Our position is 58:06.647N 08:06.448E

Distance covered 14.7 Nm

Apparently a passage through the Blindleia is a must when in Norway, and the time had come for us to brave the narrow rocky passage south.  Having fortified ourselves with some light shopping we set off in bright sunshine.  We had as a tentative destination an anchorage in a very enclosed pool about 22Nm away but a Norwegian on our jetty had recommended the island of Stokken, which was closer and we were waiting to see how we felt after a day of close attention to the pilotage.

  Going ashore with the rubbish before leaving Lillesand

The wind was strong, 30Kn in the open stretches, but the seas were flat as we were inside the skjaergard (the passages protected by the archipelago of rocks and islands offshore) so all we had to worry about was the track and the cold. In spite of the sunshine and the wind coming from the south west, it was bitter. Obviously the windy course and strong wind on the nose meant we were motoring all day. More Norwegians own motor boats than yachts and we could see why. The wind is either too strong or there’s none most of the time, the direction rarely seems to be favourable, and a lot of their sailing is in and out of rocks.

   The entrance to the Blindleia

    Some houses were bigger than others

The views were interesting as we were so close to habitation and the passages were certainly narrow so there was an easy decision to take as Stokken came up on our track and we headed inside to the sheltered harbour where a jetty had been fixed to the rock face of a nature reserve. There were boats at anchor and some tied to rocks, but we opted for the alongside the jetty.

   Narrow passages

We were passed by various yachts racing with spinnakers and assymetrics in spite of the strength of the wind. This boat had just recovered from a spectacular broach , which laid him down and he wasn’t the only one struggling

       Tied up in Stokken

We went for a walk round the island. There is another harbour on the north side and that was packed with locals, moored bow to with stern anchors, but socialising on the jetty while enjoying the late afternoon sun (our mooring position was shaded by cliffs). Our walk took us to a southerly point of the island and we felt the full force of the wind there but we had a very peaceful night even though the people from the next boat were BBQing on the jetty by their boat.

     Our harbour

   The north harbour

Always room for another one

On the windward side of the island